
I don't know a single Christian who does not struggle with prayer. For some, the practice of prayer is like an unknown language. Others wrestle with the plausibility of prayer: does God need our prayer, use them, learn from them, etc. These questions are not new and if for no other reason than an outside perspective (temporal as well as cultural), we will benefit from revisiting Watts's treatise A GUIDE TO PRAYER.
The book is lucid in style and structure just as anyone would expect who has sung Watts's hymns. He begins with the nature of prayer and moves to the gift of prayer (nature of gift, forms, matter). A striking feature of the discussion is just how pastoral it is. For example, to help his readers remember the kinds and ordering of prayer, Watts provides a memorable ditty:
Call upon God, adore, confess,
Petition, plead, and then declare
You are the Lord's give thanks and bless,
And let Amen confirm the prayer.
Likewise, one of his rules--for the weaker sheep like myself in the flock--is: "do not affect to pray long, for the sake of length, or to stretch out i/our matter by labour and toil of thought, beyond the furniture of your own spirit."
Overall, I'd recommend this text for any Christian, reformed or not, who wrestles with the what and how of prayer. The framework of Watts thought is distinctively Calvinistic, but the substance of his thought and intent has the richness of a spiritual tradition ebbing from the 14th c. pastoral writings of Walter Hilton and Richard Rolle. As for myself, I plan on taking segments of the text and practicing them bit by bit. Prayer is not something one ever masters. Yet, real progress can occur, and for this, Watts is a faithful guide.
"Prayer is not something one ever masters. Yet, real progress can occur."
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by progress in prayer Joe? We talking about public prayer or private prayer? We talking about style of prayer or power of prayer?